The Back Room is pleased to present Atas Pagar, the second solo exhibition by emerging Malaysian artist, Ain (b. 2000). Having previously worked with her for our presentation at S.E.A. Focus 2025 in Singapore, we’re excited to finally be working with her on a formal exhibition at our gallery in Kuala Lumpur. Atas Pagar is a quiet show filled with the ashes of memories, comprising a series of new works in Ain’s ash painting series, which sees her creating small paintings out of ceramic ash and pigments. The fragile nature of the paintings and their vulnerability to disintegration are part of the artist’s ongoing concerns with memory and family history.
The exhibition takes its cue from an incident that happened within Ain’s extended family. Some time ago, her grandmother’s house in Kuantan, Pahang, was broken into and burgled. The burglar had cut through the metal grille over the kitchen window to enter the house — a clean, deliberate cut that fixed itself in Ain’s imagination ever since she heard the story and saw the photos of the cut grille. Thus began a fixation with all sorts of household gates, including window grilles, security gates, and border fences. For Ain, who has had a diasporic childhood spent in a variety of different countries due to the nature of her father’s work, it became a point of interest to observe and contemplate the different attitudes towards safety, openness, and boundaries across different cultures.
Comparing and contrasting these attitudes, the artist puts in her own words: ‘... The idea of a “gate” changes with context. What we choose to enclose, and leave open, says something about safety, culture, trust, fear, and identity. The phrase “atas pagar” — meaning to be on the fence, undecided — has always stuck with me. For some reason, those words just embedded themselves in my head, as if waiting for the right moment. That moment is now.’
The exhibition is accompanied by an interview with the artist conducted by fellow artist, Wong Hoy Cheong.
About the Artist
Ain (b. 2000) is an artist who was born in Bangkok, Thailand and raised in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan, a diverse upbringing which has contributed to her diasporic identity and longing for belonging. Her practice includes videos, audio, and installations that focus on themes such as belonging, language, memories, and national and cultural identity. Her work reflects her interest in post-colonial discourses, such as cultural preservation, exoticism, craftsmanship, and archives.
Besides that, she questions the position and role of artists in decolonization, with references to Aimé Césaire’s concept of the “Man of Culture”, and how one embraces a post-colonial history and reconstructs itself through culture and arts.
Ain’s debut solo exhibition was da lama dah at Blank Canvas gallery in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, in 2025. She has participated in group exhibitions in Malaysia, Singapore, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Notable recent group shows include There’s a word I’m trying to remember, for a feeling I’m about to have (2025, Appetite, Singapore); S.E.A. Focus 2025 (Singapore); ⏊IWE (2024, Blank Canvas, Penang, Malaysia); My Oma (2023, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, Netherlands); and Als je me echt zou kennen... (If you really knew me...) (2023, de Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands). Atas Pagar is her second solo exhibition.
Installation shots
Artworks












Available Works
Enquiries: hello@thebackroomkl.com
Melangkaui Pagar | Past the Fence 09
2025
Ash and pigment on paper
26.6 × 19.2 cm (approx.)